Louisiana Power & Light [Hardcover]

John Dufresne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1994

This original, tragic/comic Southern tale of marriage, politics, friendship, and a quest for salvation that will break readers' hearts charts a young man's struggle to overcome the trappings of his genetic history in a small Louisiana town.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This first novel by the author of a well-received story collection, The Way That Water Enters Stone , is a wacky Southern Gothic set in small-town Louisiana. Billy Wayne Fontana is the sole survivor of his oddball line of marginal folk, legendary in this backwater for being the most-often-executed and sickest white family in the Delta; and when he acquires a priestly vocation it seems likely he will be the last Fontana. While confessing young Earlene deBastrop, however, he is smitten and marries her; unfaithfulness with Tami Lynne follows, then--miraculously--a second marriage and the birth of two boys, one with a rocky heart, the other a cripple. How perplexed Billy Wayne, intending always the best but fatally impulsive, brings disaster upon himself and his little family is the center of the tale, but it is filled out with a host of ribald walk-on characters: George Dinwaddie, Pakistani exile owner of the Palms Motel and would-be assassin; Vietnam vet Angelo Candella, whose route to the statehouse in Baton Rouge is as a vegetable in a wheelchair; and Dencil Currence, who aspires to be Mr. Reddy Kilowatt for the power company. The narrative is oddly schizophrenic, alternating abruptly between farce and elegy, with some peculiar authorial interpolations ("So where are we?" "Now that we've got up a moderate head of narrative steam," etc.). And Dufresne cannot seem to escape an unfortunate edge of condescension toward his characters from time to time. It is a skillful, often lively performance, but one that leaves a disconcerting aftertaste.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

For Billy Wayne Fontana, guilt is as natural "as gravity," but he hopes to end the curse on his genetically tainted clan by adopting priestly celibacy. Unfortunately, hearing a young woman's confession propels him into an impulsive marriage and sparks a new series of tragic events. The narrative meanders lazily, digresses into anecdotes about earlier unfortunate Fontanas, and then leaps forward with startling revelations. In this first novel, the author of a critically acclaimed story collection (The Way That Water Enters Stone, Norton, 1991) distills high comedy from intense pain, philosophical insight from bayou murkiness. Dufresne enlarges his comedy by using the Monroe Library Great Books discussion group as a perceptive but highly eccentric community chorus and by offering a delightfully acerbic satire of Louisiana politics ("kakistocracy," or "government by the worst") as backdrop. Highly recommended for popular and literary collections alike.
Albert E. Wilhelm, Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 306 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1st edition (July 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393036480
• ISBN-13: 978-0393036480
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,849,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like rocking on a Louisiana porch on a starry night, June 21, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Louisiana Power and Light (Mass Market Paperback)

I found this to be the masculine version of the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Dufresne has written gorgeously flawed characters who sparkle and tarnish themselves on every page. These are the people small towns are made of--or at least, the people we imagine exist through wonderful southern novelists. It's a slow and luxurious read, like a humid summer day, but worth the patience. The ending, despite my predictions, was a surprising and poignant finale.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gumbo of the delicious humor of ill fate in a southern town, October 24, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Louisiana Power and Light (Mass Market Paperback)

The story of the folks of the fictional town of Limoges, Louisiana,
a place where one family's pre-destined ill fate stirs up drama after drama.

The characters DuFresne creates are so true to life in their
matter-of-fact emotional extremes and absurdities that we are
pulled into each and every one of their lives.

With unforgettable characters like Moonpie and the tragic
family lineage he has shouldered, the book is the quickest
most well-written prose I have read in a long time.

Laughing and crying through countless dramatic encounters
the story's charactersgo through, I found myself a resident of
Limoges for three months after I finished reading the book.

One of the best qualities of DuFresne's writing lies in his
ability to display humor, being one of the most important and warm
human characteristics, as an instinctive defense mechanisms in
playful and wonderfully surprising ways.

I read this book close to seven months ago but can not get
the charcters out of my mind. I would like not to divulge
much of the story line since that would detract from your
reading experience.

Read it and you will remind yourself why you love literature
be proud that we have such imaginative literary writers
living in America during such turbulent times.

Isn't it time all of us picked up a book that was NOT a
national bestseller and read it for the sheer enjoyment
of the playful words and literary merit?

Reminiscent of Nabokov with a dash of John Irving and
Tennesse Williams with the surreal literary quality of
Paul Auster, "Louisiana Power & Light" should be a most
enjoyable read for all of you that still believe in
literature and its inherent love of life.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moon Pies and Venusians, March 5, 2002

By 

Jim Kaznosky (Guttenberg, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Louisiana Power and Light (Mass Market Paperback)

...Billy Wayne Fontana is obsessed with escaping the fate of his ancestors-a quirky, unlucky life, with a rather brutal and bizarre death. Upon giving up the priesthood for marriage, he believes that he can avoid his fate. Its a southern gothic romp with a humorous edge to it. You don't have to read through many pages before you can see the wit that Dufresne is capable of.
I hate to say that a book is an excellent first novel. It should be based on its own merits, but this is a certainly an excellent first novel. I look forward to reading more of his writing.